Exceptions
by Ravensbleeding
Summary: He watched Sasuke leave, knowing that he wouldn’t exist as soon as the raven-haired boy left. Not once, as Sasuke was leaving, had he looked back. However, there are exceptions to almost everything, and today was one of those exceptions.


So this is a new story that I'd been working on forever, but finally finished. (Yay me!) Well, it's not very long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. I put a lot of effort into this story. (I hope you can tell.)

Naruto is very OOC in this story, and Sasuke is...well, for the most part, still Sasuke.

I don't own Naruto, or any of the songs mentioned in the story.

* * *

Sasuke boarded the bus, his backpack slung over one shoulder, and shuffled down the aisle. As always, there was no one in the second to last row except for the blonde who claimed the left window seat. His headphones covered his ears (as usual) and he was staring out the window like he normally did. He was always glued to the window though he preferred looking out at rain than sun rays. His music blared through the headphones and if Sasuke got close enough, or if the bus lapsed into an unusual bout of silence, he could make out the words to Skillet's "Whispers in the Dark." Sometimes he (the blonde) mouthed the words but most of the time he kept his mouth closed, not even opening it to yawn or say hi. He wore his usual attire, orange cargo pants with a bulky orange jacket covering a black shirt. Sasuke didn't understand why the blonde wore orange (which was an attention-grabbing color) if all he wanted to do was try and blend in and go unnoticed.

But Sasuke didn't question the boy's motives anymore. He had, at one point in time, asked questions, but he was only answered with silence. Eventually he had given up asking, and now most of the bus rides were spent in silence, save for the blonde's music.

The blonde's eyes shifted their attention from the outside world to Sasuke as the raven-haired boy sat next to him. As soon as they had come they had gone and if Sasuke had blinked he would have missed seeing the blue orbs entirely. But those eyes were now once again fixated on the scenery outside that big glass window. Not that the scenery was actually much to look at…but Sasuke figured that although the blonde's gaze was out the window he wasn't really _seeing_ anything.

Sasuke leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. Another song blared from the blonde's headphones but Sasuke couldn't remember the name of it or who the artist was. It would probably come to him later when he had gotten off the bus and left the blonde behind.

The blonde shifted in his seat and Sasuke cracked one eye open to look at him. The blonde's forehead was pressed against the window, leaving a smudge, but he would always wipe it off later with his jacket sleeve.

The song changed again. Sasuke listened for a few seconds before concluding that he had not heard this song before. He reached over and gently pried the blonde's fingers off the iPod. He (the blonde) never protested to Sasuke's actions. In fact, he hardly even seemed to notice that Sasuke was doing anything at all.

Sasuke pushed pause and the screen lit up, revealing the name of the song and the artist. "Had Enough" by Breaking Benjamin. Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek and pressed the iPod back into the hands of its owner.

The blonde stared at him for a moment, his eyes searching Sasuke's face. Then, when he had seemingly found his answer, he turned back to look out the window. He never looked at Sasuke for long, a minute or two at the most.

Sasuke leaned towards the blonde, resting his head on the blonde's shoulder, staring out into the world. "What do you see?" he murmured, his breath warm against the blonde's ear. He couldn't see it, probably wouldn't have noticed if he could have, but the blonde's eyes widened and his breath hitched. "Nothing good," Sasuke answered for him, then pulled back. The blonde's eyes closed and his warm breath left a small circle of moisture on the window.

Sasuke once again leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He could hear the blonde's music still, through the voices of the people around them. It comforted him, knowing that the blonde was there. Just his presence put Sasuke in a good mood, even if he'd had the crappiest day ever. It was weird to feel this good around some random boy that Sasuke didn't even know the name of (hence why he is always referred to as 'the blonde').

If you asked him, Sasuke would tell you that he didn't spend much time thinking about his and the blonde's relationship. In fact, he'd tell you outright that he never thought about it because as soon as he was off the bus the blonde was erased from his mind until he boarded the next day and saw him again. It was almost like some kind of switch. On the bus, the blonde existed. Off the bus, the blonde didn't. On his mind, off his mind. On, off. On, off. The cycle repeated just like it had for two years.

And not once, as Sasuke was leaving, had he looked back.

But of course, there are exceptions to almost everything, and today was one of those exceptions. Today Sasuke's mind raced with all kinds of thoughts about the blonde boy sitting next to him.

As of now, if you asked Sasuke why he stayed next to the blonde, he'd tell you that it was probably because the blonde didn't want anything. Sounds weird, doesn't it? That that was his reason for sitting next to the blonde instead of the old man up front who ogled little girls and wrote porn books. Because the blonde didn't _want_ anything.

But it made sense to Sasuke. Everywhere he went, people wanted something from him. They wanted good grades, intelligent ideas, helpful hints, just something. They wanted him to go out with someone, or be the best in his class or do something that would amaze them. Yet this blonde, this quiet boy he only sat next to on the bus for two hours, didn't want anything. He didn't want Sasuke to be his friend, he didn't want Sasuke to talk to him, he didn't want Sasuke to do something amazing; hell, he didn't seem to want Sasuke sitting next to him. In fact, he seemed like he'd be perfectly content with Sasuke sitting somewhere else.

Sasuke took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He couldn't hear the blonde's music anymore. The chatter of the girls that had just gotten on the bus disrupted the peace. But what did Sasuke care? It was all the same to him. Music, no music, chatter, no chatter. All the same.

A tap on his shoulder caused him to crack one eye open. The blonde was leaning close to him, blue eyes locked with chocolate ones. The blonde's eyes darted outside and Sasuke leaned forward to see what was going on. They were stopped at a bus stop near a school. There were three girls outside playing jump rope and chanting some stupid little ditty to go along with it. Sasuke stared at them, opening his mouth to shoot off some insult or something nasty comment but thought better of it and closed his mouth. Instead, he stared at the blonde.

There was a twinkle in his blue eyes that Sasuke had rarely seen before. Sasuke's glance went back to the three girls and suddenly he got the message. He smirked. **(1)**Go figure the blonde would find some way to disprove his comment from earlier. 'Nothing good…' He shook his head and sat back in his seat, staring at the seat in front of him.

His eyelids grew heavy and he yawned. He looked at his watch. He still had thirty minutes until he had to get off. And the blonde would wake him if he was still asleep by then. Mm...nap time…

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, blinking. A quick glance outside told Sasuke that they were approaching his stop. He yawned and tried to raise his arms to stretch but something heavy was on his right shoulder. A quick glance told him that the blonde had also fallen asleep and his head was resting on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke grunted and pushed him off, ultimately waking the sleeping boy.

Blue eyes blinked in confusion as he sat up. His iPod was still playing, his headphones having slipped down around his neck. He looked at the window just as they pulled into Sasuke's stop. As Sasuke stood up it looked, for a moment, like the blonde would stop him, tell him to sit down again, tell him to stay just a little while longer, just to pretend that he existed for a few more seconds. His hand raised up, his fingers outstretched, and then the blonde looked away and pulled his hand back, his fingers curling. He watched Sasuke leave, knowing that he wouldn't exist as soon as the raven-haired boy left. Then he bit his lip and forced himself to look back out the window. He told himself that watching Sasuke leave was a bad idea. It always was. Sasuke never looked back, never shot him another glance.

But today was a day of exceptions to rules that the two had placed on themselves.

Today, the blonde looked up. Today, he watched Sasuke leave.

And today, Sasuke did look back. And when he did, he saw the most beautiful smile grace the blonde's face.

* * *

**(1)** So, I know this is a little confusing. But earlier Sasuke had told Naruto that what he saw out the window was 'Nothing good.' And Naruto, even though he didn't say a word, was showing Sasuke that what he saw out the window _was_ good. Yeah, so that was kinda stupid, but I put it in there because I felt like it.

So yeah, Naruto was waaayyy OOC. I mean, he didn't utter a word in the whole story. (Gasp) And I think Sasuke was pretty much normal...

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading it, and at least found it a semi-valuable waste of your time.

Please leave a review letting me know what you thought. I'd really like that. It'd make me very happy.

Well, anyways, have a nice day, evening, afternoon, morning, whatever it is!


End file.
